"Well, you have to be believe in what you're doing," the former president said. "I’m also very comfortable with the fact that it’s going to take a while for history to judge whether the decisions I made are consequential or not. And therefore I’m not too worried about it."

When Leno asked Bush about his decision to stay out of the limelight after eight years in the White House and not offer his take on current policies, Bush had a succinct and straightforward answer.

He and former first lady Laura Bush are now comfortably living in Dallas, Texas, where they spend most of their time working on pet projects like their global health initiative at Southern Methodist University, which focuses on working on cancer in Africa.

And Bush has taken on a new passion.

"You may not think I'm a painter, but I'm a painter," Bush said as he and Leno went through some of the former president's paintings – a portrait of his longtime pooch, Barney, and cat, Bob.

But the real surprise of the night came next.

"I do take painting seriously and it's changed my life," Bush said as he presented Leno with his very own portrait painting.

At 67, the former president looked upbeat as he appeared with his wife. Leno asked the couple how they dealt with Bush's recent health scare.

He received a stent to unclog a severely blocked artery over the summer.

"It was scary. It was very scary," Laura Bush said. But the former president responded, "I wasn't that scared."